The weekend of Dec. 6-8 was reveling in the holiday spirit and goodwill when The Collection at Riverpark hosted the second annual CAN-tree Collection drive in support of Ventura County FOOD Share’s Holiday Tackle Hunger campaign.

The dining and shopping destination’s plaza was lined with 103 can-trees – Christmas trees built with 700 cans of food – built by community teams, as well as a 14-foot can-tree made of 10,000 cans of food donated by Whole Foods Market and constructed by students of ACE Charter High School. Wrapping up the event weekend, about 81,200 cans of food were collected.

“We are overwhelmed by the generosity of those in our community who helped make this not only a fun event, but one in which we hope will make a difference for those in need during the holidays,” said Leticia Wilson, director of marketing at The Collection at Riverpark. “Working together with FOOD Share continues to be a wonderful and worthwhile experience.”

The CAN-tree Collection is FOOD Share’s signature event during its annual Holiday Tackle Hunger Campaign – a three-month-long push to boost donations during the year when the need is most critical to help feed more than 74,500 hungry people per month. This year, FOOD Share hopes to collect more than $150,000 in monetary donations and 200,000 pounds of donated food to help restock the shelves of their Oxnard warehouse distribution center by Super Bowl Sunday on Feb. 2.

“We are thrilled with the results of the second annual CAN-tree Collection food drive as we’ve almost doubled the number of donations from last year,” explains FOOD Share president and CEO Bonnie Weigel. “Although CAN-tree weekend has come to an end, the fight to meet our goals for Tackle Hunger still goes on and we hope the community stays inspired to continue its support so no one goes hungry during the holiday season.”

Cumulus Radio’s B95.1 broadcasted live from the CAN-tree event from a Holiday PODS® container decorated by The Vines at Riverpark and will continue to collect monetary and non-perishable food donations for Tackle Hunger until Sunday, Dec. 22, at The Collection.

On Wednesday, Dec. 18, the Pleasant Valley School District rolled in additional donations to help FOOD Share meet its Tackle Hunger goals when it holds a Stuff-the-Bus food drive. For anyone who would like to coordinate a food drive to support FOOD Share, contact Karen Jensen, FOOD Share’s food source director atkjensen@foodshare.com or 805-983-7100 X135.